Saracens have been rocked by the news that scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth has been ruled for the rest of the season because of a knee injury.

The England international scrum-half hobbled off during Sunday's Anglo-Welsh Cup win over Exeter Chiefs and subsequent scans revealed that Wigglesworth had damaged his ACL. Consequently, he was forced to undergo surgery on Wednesday, meaning he will be out of action for up to nine months.

"It's a big blow for 'Wiggy', who has been playing so well for Saracens and has worked so hard in the past 18 months to get himself back in the England side," said Sarries director of rugby Mark McCall.

"In my opinion, he was one of England's stand out players at the World Cup and it's a shame he will miss the Six Nations.

"It's also a blow for us but we are lucky to have two very good players in Neil de Kock and Ben Spencer who have both performed so well this season and because of that, we are not looking to recruit."